Boiler-operating method and means.



C. H. NICHOLS.

BOILER OPERATING METHOD AND MEANS.

APPLICATION FILED JAN.26. i915.

l @l Patented July 24, 1917.

Q. MMM w AnaB/VHS lio CLARENCE H. NICHOLS, F NEW YORK, l'nl'. Y.

lBOILER-UPERATING METHOD ND MEANS.

neaaaor.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 24, 121'?.

Application led January 26, 1915. Serial No. 4,423.

To all whom t may concern.' l

Be it blown that l, CLARENCE H. NICH- oLs, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful lmprovements in Boiler-Operating Methods and Means, of which the following is a descri tion.

y invention relates to steam boilers, and is directed to operating means and methods which greatly simplify the operation of boilers, reduce their operating cost, and dispense with a large amount of apparatus which is expensive to install, operate and maintain.

More particularl my invention is directed tothe operation of steam boilers in a battery of several boilers, arranged to sup- Jply prime movers, or steam consuming devices of any nature, and is particularly useful in instances in which the exhaust steam from the prime movers or other steam conl suining devices is condensed and the condensate used as a feed water supply to the boilers.

Heretoore, in such an arrangement, when pure water was unobtainable, the practice has been to supply each of the-boilers of a battery with water obtained by condensing the exhaust steam from the prime mover,

` and lto make up any loss in water by an addition to the condensate of pure water obtained b distilling. salt, or other impure water, ta en from the main source of water supply. When so operated, a distilling lant consisting of a distilling boiler, a condenser and av ump was installed, the steam generated in ytllle distilling boiler passing at approximately atmospheric pressure to the coils ofA the condenser, which coils were cooled by air or by water derived from some convenient source, the steaml being thus A condensed and the water of condensation Boiler 11 may be of any suitable construcl tion but, inasmuch as it is used to evaporate salt or impure water, it is preferably of a construction from which the scale, sediment or other impurities may be easily removed. The Water is evaporated in boiler l1 and steam of approximately the same pressure as that generated in the other boilers is generated therein, this steam passing by means of pipe 12 to the common steamheader 13.

At 14, and 16, have shown three other boilers of the battery, each connected to the steam-header 13 and feed-water line 17. The section of the feed water line 17, however, which supplies boilers 14, 15 and 16, is cuto' from the remainder of the line by the closure of valve 10, thus supplying pure water derived from the condensation of the exhaust steam of the prime mover to boilers 14, 15 and 16, as will be explained. At 18--18, l have shown two prime movers, it being understood, however, that any desired number of prime-movers may be used. The steam passes from the common steam-header to the prime movers by means of pipes 19-19, is utilized therein, and then passes through condensers 20-20, where the exhaust steam is condensed, and from 1v.which it is removed'by means of pumps 21--21; the condensate then passes by means of pipe 22 either to the heater 23, which may be conveniently heated by the exhaust steam, orby-passed about said heater by means of by-pass pipe 24, thus being led to feed pumpl 25 by means of which the water is pumped either to an economizer 26 and thence to the feed water line 17, or by means of a by-pass pipe 27, directly to the feed water line. A check valve 29 is located between each boiler and the feed water line 17 to prevent a iow of water or steam from any ofthe boilers into the feed Water line, such as would occur vin the event of unequal pressures in the veral boilers if these valves were omitted.

It will thus be seen that boilers 14, 15 and 16 are operating on pure Water derived from condensation of the exhaust steam of the prime movers, and boiler 11 is operating upon impure Water derived from the source of impure Water supply. Steam of substantially the same pressure, however, is being generated in all of said boilers and delivered to a common steam-header 13 for use in the prime movers. I am thus enabled to make up for any losses in pure Water kdi-r rectly from boiler 11, Without passingy through the condenser in the manner now practised. It will be evident that I- thus save the amount of heat necessary to evap-y orate the make-up Water, as Well as saving the expense of maintenance, cost and cost of operation of the condenser, etc. While I have shown all of the boilers of the bat-- tery delivering steam to a common header, it is tobe understood that any one or any group of the boilers may be separately connected to a steam consumingy device or devices. f ,n

Should the amount of Water Which boiler 11 is capable of evaporating prove insuii-f cient to compensate for thefeed-Water losses, boiler 14 may be used in addition to boiler 11 for evaporating impure Water, by 1 In this manner I may use any desired number of the boilers of the battery to evaporate impure Water, While the remaining boilers of the battery are operating onthe pure Water of condensation.

From the foregoing description it Will 'be seen that my invention has great utility in many instances in Which it is desired to evaporate impure Water, irrespective of the particular use to which the steam produced thereby is put. `Thus, if instead of using the condensate of the exhaust steam of a prime mover to supply feed Water for boilers operating upon relatively pure Water, it is'desired to supply pure Water to any Water utilizing device as, for instance, in connection with domestic uses, the manufacture of ice, etc., the prime mover may be omitted and any other suitable steam consumingor condensing device substituted therefor, or, if desired, a portion of the condensate may be used for domestic uses, ice making, or other purposes, and the remainder used to supply feed Water to the boilers.

I, therefore, do not desire to limit my invention to a system in Which all of the exhaust steam is condensed to be used as feed Water for ther boilers or, in fact, to any specie use of the steam generated in the boilers of the battery, or to the use of all of such steam in any particular'manner, since it is evident that a portion of it may be used in one manner and anotherportion in another. Nor do I intend to limit myself to any particular steam or Water consuming device, but intend to include all devices in Which steam is consumed or condensed. I also do not intend to limit myself to the precise nature, arrangement of the steameconsuming devices, yor the piping, 'as these are matters of detail, and it Will be evident that many modifications of myinvention may be madey y Without departing from of my invention.

What I claim is: 1. The method of operating a battery of steam boilers which consists in evaporating the Water of condensation secured by oondensing the exhaust of a steam consuming device in part of the battery, and' making' up they loss of Water for such boilers by evaporating impure Water in the other part of the battery, and supplying the steam so generated to the steam 'consuming device.

2. The method of operating a batteryfof steam boilers, which yconsists in evaporating the water of condensation secured by condensing the exhaust of a steam consuming device in' some of the boilers of the battery to generate ysteam of a given pressure, supplying impure Water to another boiler of' the battery, generating steam therein at the same pressure, and supplying the steam gen erated by all of the boilers to said common y steam consuming device.

3. The method ofk operating a battery of Y steam boilers, which consists in evaporating the condensate obtained by condensing the r the spirit and scope exhaust from a steam consuming device in some of the boilers of the battery, supply-y ingy such condensate, together with impure Water, to another boiler of the battery, evapo- Irating said condensate and impure water in said boiler and supplying the steam generated in all of the boilers to a common steam consuming device from the exhaust of which said condensate is obtained.r y f y 4. The method of operating a battery of steam boilers, which consists in feeding relatively impure Water to one boiler of the battery to generate steam, .supplying relatively pure Water toother boilers of the battery to generate steaml therein, supplying steam generated from both pure and impure Water to steam consuming deyices, condensing the steamk after it has passed through the steam consumingdevices and supplying the c011- densate to the boilers using relatively pure Water.

5. The method of operating a battery of Steam boilers, which consists in evaporating the condensate obtained by condensing the exhaust steam from steam consuming devices in some of the boilers of the battery; evaporating relatively impure Water in another boiler of the battery and supplying steam generated from the pure and impure Water to said steam consuming devices.

6. Means for operating a battery of boilers, comprising afeed-Water line having pure and impure Water connections; means for feeding pure or impure water to any desired nuinber of boilers of the battery; a steam consuming device; a common steam connection from all of-said boilersto the steam consuming device' means for condensing the exhaust steam of said steam consuming device; and means for delivering the condensate to the pure water connection of the feed Water line.

7. Means for operating a battery of boil- J ers, comprising a steam consuming device; means for condensing the exhaust steam of the steam consuming device and for supplying such condensate to any desired .number of boilers of the battery; a source of rela- .tively impure Water supply; mea-ns for supplying such impure Water to one of the boilers of the battery and a common steam connection from all of said boilers to the steamv CLARENCE H. NCHOLS.

Witnesses:

'F. E. TALMAGE, G. B. CULLor. 

